Guide

Core Concepts

Learn the minimum object model needed to follow the rest of the docs.

Systems and functions

A system is the larger service or product surface operators talk about.

A function is a narrower operational unit under a system when that extra precision changes routing, ownership, or reporting.

An alert source is the entry point Beacon uses to ingest webhook or email signal.

An alert becomes useful only after sample capture, mapping, routing, and replay all agree on what the source should do.

A live incident is where scope, status, timeline, runbooks, bridge links, alert context, and follow-through stay connected.

The incident command center is the working surface during response.

Schedules decide who is on call now and who is next.

Ownership maps a function to the team that should respond.

Fallback policies decide what to do when direct user delivery cannot reach the responder.

Runbooks are reusable response flows that can be launched manually or auto-attached when conditions match.

The Status Center shows live service health and recent updates.

Notifications let people subscribe to incidents by system, function, tag, severity, and channel.

Retrospectives capture what happened, what changed the outcome, and what needs follow-through.

Reports and Changes help you review the incident after the live work is over.